Only Human
by FocalFiodoir
Summary: Rukia Kuchiki is a strong and confident Shinigami who is capable if incapacitating hollows and other supernatural foes. What happens, though, when she encounters an enemy she has not been trained to defeat, who proves that the real monsters can be humans themselves. Rated T for violence


The man standing outside of Karakura High School smiled to himself as he watched the shifting figures moving behind the school's large windows; he had chosen a prime location. He smiled again as he heard a bell ring and moved back to stand in the shadow of a large tree where he would be out of sight from the large throng of students now streaming out of the building. His eyes flashed back and forth as he skimmed the large crowd of bustling teens, expertly picking out the perfect candidate in no time at all. His heart fluttered in his chest as he watched the small girl make her way through the crowd and turn right when she reached the street; he was anticipating and already planning out the moment he would strike. Frowning slightly, he noted a tall, lanky boy with orange hair calling to her and running to catch up. Normally, he chose people who were loners, he could relate to them and there was a lesser chance for possible witnesses. Never mind that, though. It was a minor setback that he could no doubt deal with, even use to his advantage. The more people the girl knew, the more pain he could inflict, and he was an expert on pain. He lived off of pain. The pain of others, though, not his own. Inflicting pain and torture was a kind of drug for him, a beautiful and addictive high that unfortunately wore out very fast, for a human life could only withstand so much. Teenagers, though, could withstand slightly more, and so he usually chose them as victims. Contrary to what some had labeled him, he was not a pedophile; he would never sink that low. He preyed on youth, not because he was attracted to them, but because of their fighting spirit and because most of them were new to pain. A teenager to him was like a blank canvas to an artist, strong and lacking the scars and marks that came with aging.

Confident that the girl and her friend were far enough away and that the group of students had sufficiently thinned, he left his position behind the tree and made his way towards the street outside of the school while still staying within shadows cast by the foliage that surrounded the building; one could never be too careful. Upon reaching the street he crossed, then turned in the direction that the girl had gone. He walked at a brisk pace until he spotted the pair, then hung back, occasionally stopping to peer into store windows and pretending to be interested in all the trivial, material things that the rest of the modern day world seemed to be obsessed with, he would do anything to avoid suspicion. He always made sure that he could see the girl in the corner of his vision, though. If he lost her, everything would be ruined. He already knew too much about her, could almost taste her on the air, her fear, her energy. He was an expert on analyzing and could tell a lot about a person by studying them even for the briefest of periods. He felt like he had known her for way longer than ten minutes, which was about the amount of time that had passed since he had spotted her. He could tell by her stature that she was strong, not shy or weak like her height, or rather lack of it, might suggest. Strong and proud and maybe even a little feisty, he noted as she reached over and gave the boy a good punch on the arm. He liked that.

He tailed them until they entered a house, which apparently doubled as a local clinic, then left, turning on his heel nonchalantly and making his way back past the school and around the side of the building where he had parked his sedan. He drove away, heading back to the small motel room he had rented for the night where he would pack up all of his stuff and head to an abandoned building he had found on the west end of the town. He couldn't help chuckling to himself as he stared at his gloved hands and thought about the untraceable plates currently attached to the back of his car. He was a genius, an absolute genius with a perfect plan as well as a perfect victim. The small girl with black hair would soon be his.


End file.
